The World Tree
by Ydarissep
Summary: When the Gaia was young, a great tree acted as a Guardian. But, over time, it was forgotten and ignored. While it had turned ethereal, its remnants can often manifest in the corporeal realm.
1. The World Tree

**The World Tree**

Back before anyone can dare to recall, there was an ancient tree. It grew from the earth and water in what is now known as the Atlantic Ocean. This ancient world tree breached the heavens, the great canopies reaching out to cloak Gaia in everlasting life and fertility. Many of the ancient people revered this massive guardian and sent their dead out on rafts towards the great being so they could be carried to the afterlife by the faeries and gnomes that inhabited the tree itself.

However, over the years, the guardian began to fade. As a deity long forgotten, it vanished without anyone noticing. The children of the world tree now cover the lands they can, trying to preserve the life-giving energy of their great predecessor. From time to time, a random leaf or twig will fall out of the sky, completely out of place and time, as if the ancient guardian still existed. Some of the more superstitious people even keep these leaves or twigs are trinkets or arrangements in the home, as a symbol of good luck or some other such things.

One such person was Mordekai Dylan. He was a ragged sort of man: patchy beard, messy black hair, dark bags around his eyes and pale skin. He always wore shirts that were too big for him – larges and mediums and would hide his hands in the sleeves if they were long enough. The only pants he ever wore were of the sweat variety, from light gray to black. He always kept to himself, and was often considered insane with all that he blabbered on about. Aliens, magic, government conspiracies – nothing was free from being a topic of sorts.

And so one day, as he was walking the metropolis of New York on a particularly cold day, he felt something hit his head. It was considerably odd, as there was nobody around as he could see. Being the late morning, people would be in their offices, working, so it isn't like anything could have thrown anything at him. His rationalizing worked for a moment until he heard the sharp clank of a small piece of wood behind him. He turned sharply to try and find any mischief-makers, but found none – instead, he spotted a small, barren branch lying on the ground.

He looked one way, then the other, trying to find the origin of this twig. He saw nothing but empty street, lonely road, and a plastic bag blowing across the avenue up ahead.

'_What an odd thing_,' he thought to himself as he stared at the wood in his hand. His errands were complete, and he had no more reason to be out, so he hurried home. The railway was the quickest way out of the metropolis, and he soon found himself above ground as the tram took a steep incline up out of the ground.

His home was medium sized, several miles from the city. The tram took him most of the way, but he walked the last mile and took his sweet time walking along the side of the road. He could not help but look up at the sudden gathering of clouds in the atmosphere and he sneered as if he had caught the whiff of something foul. Not foul as week old rubbish, but foul is in evil or unnatural.

He hurried into his home as he could not take any more and closed the heavy door behind him, dead-bolting, padlocking and stopping the door to keep it closed. He headed into the empty living room, arranged many different items around on the floor, and began talking to himself. His shoes and socks had been removed, as well as the large coat he was wearing on his outing. He tried to recite things he had read in books that would cause magick to come forth. To anyone who was able to see him now, he looked like he was pretending to be Harry Potter by himself.

"Come on," he growled, "work, you stupid thing!" As if he had angered the very spirits of the world from abusing such a sacred artifact, thunder boomed and his lonely home seemed to shake from it. Lightning cracked outside and struck the road outside of his home. He attempted to rush out, but found himself kissing his door as he had forgotten he had locked it in the drunken feeling of adrenaline.

As he came out of his dazed state, he undid all the locks he could find on the door, ran out of the door in little more than his shirt and sweatpants, branch still in hand. He tripped as if the grass rose up to grab at his ankles and fell face-first into the dirt. He refused to give up, practically crawling and running up to the giant hole the lightning had left in the street. He misjudged the distance and found his hands reaching for empty space. And so, he fell into the abyss…


	2. Twisted Reality

**Twisted Reality**

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. The grandfather-style clock ticked incessantly, insistently, as if it was forcing its will upon the world. A gong sounded from the clock and it echoed along the empty, gray landscape. Far above, the white sky hung tiredly without a sun to light the world.

Mordecai lay there, unconscious within this empty landscape. How he got here was a result of messing with powers he did not understand – powers he would never be able to understand with his pitiful mortality.

Despite the lack of a sun in the sky, the clock still casted a shadow behind it. From the shadow, figures began to rise, resembling long-armed, skinny, silhouetted humans. Two of them were summoned – the first with a "Comedy" mask, the second with a "Tragedy" mask. They both held mirrors in their hands as they walked over to the unconscious man. Behind them, their flat, shoe-like feet left black prints on the ground as they walked.

Mordecai was oblivious to these creatures as he came to, slowly standing up and rubbing his head. As he became aware of their presence he turned to look at them, their bodies moving fluidly from side to side as if slithering like snakes. He looked down at their mirrors and saw his reflection in each, shifting his gaze between either of them a couple of times before light erupted from them, shooting out at Mordecai and blinking him.

He stumbled back several steps, his arms coming up to cover his face with his arms to shield himself from the light. What seemed like an eternity of whiteness was actually only a few seconds. He heard hissing akin to something sizzling like water on hot metal. The shadow beings writhed and squirmed, the openings of their masks vomiting out more of the black ooze onto the ground before them. The blob combined and intertwined with itself, molding and growing into a humanoid shape.

Unlike the silhouettes, the surrounding shadows gave way to regal clothing. A mask was covering the face, a combination of comedy and tragedy. Mordecai was still blinded as he heard the being speak, a full and arrogant voice – opposite of his own.

"What is your name?" he said, his hands reaching up to pull the mask from his face. As Mordecai looked up, he saw the face of the other – it was exactly like his own. His hair, however, was white as snow and eyes were golden. He was speechless, and so the doppelganger repeated itself. This time, he answered.

"My name is Mordecai," he spoke shakily, as if afraid. "Who are you?"

"I am Iacedrom. And this is Purgatory for you, in case you were curious." The apparition grinned, one hand holding the mask while the other went to rest on his hip. Mordecai rubbed his eyes, convinced he was insane. He must have been dreaming – Purgatory was for dead people, wasn't it? Ones that were either to go to Paradise or Perdition, right?

As he regained his composure and his hands moved back to his sides, the rainbow of colors from the white light still appearing here and there.

"I know everything about you, Mordecai. Well, just about everything. You are a very curious person…" Iacedrom chuckled at that, and stared at Mordecai's forehead. Something began to prick at the latter's head and he reached up to scratch it. He was surprised to feel some sort of coarseness where he had itched. The Comedy shadow raised up the mirror so he could see.

He gasped as he saw a black question mark on his forehead! He was suddenly overcome with darkness as he fell back and fainted. Iacedrom sighed and shook his head.

"Bring him along," he said. The grandfather clock suddenly sprang to life, wooden arms sprouting from the sides to grab Mordecai, the glass panel in the front opening as it stuffed him inside. The group turned to leave, following their shadows.


End file.
